TY - JOUR
T1 - Protecting highway bridges against debris flows using lateral berms
T2 - A case study of the 2008 and 2011 Cheyang debris flow events, China
AU - Qiu, Fei
AU - Huang, Jianling
AU - Li, Yange
AU - Han, Zheng
AU - Wang, Weidong
AU - Chen, Guangqi
AU - Qu, Xia
AU - Su, Bin
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China [grant number 2017YFB1201204]; the Foundation of State Key Laboratory of Geo-hazard Prevention and Geo-environment Protection [grant number SKLGP2017K014]; the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 51378509], [grant number 51478483], [grant number 41702310].
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Author(s).
PY - 2018/12/1
Y1 - 2018/12/1
N2 - Lateral berms are often constructed to protect highway bridges against debris flows in mountainous regions. Currently, different solutions for lateral berm design are debated. The lack of standardization results in the improper design of lateral berms, limiting the mitigating effect. In this paper, a monitoring case of the mitigating effect of a lateral berm is introduced. The lateral berm was constructed through a bridge culvert at the alluvial fan of a debris-flow gully. In September 2008, a debris flow in this gully completely buried the lateral berm. The proposed numerical integral method was used to back analyse the flowing velocity and mud depth in berm. Results supported the speculation that abrupt decreases in mud depth and flow velocity in the lateral berm caused deposits that compressed the effective berm depth and resulted in overtopping flow. Therefore, we suggested reducing the berm width in order to increase the flow velocity in the berm. In June 2011, another debris flow with a smaller magnitude occurred in the gully, and the reconstructed lateral berm reportedly performed well to protect the bridge of Yalu highway. The case studies highlighted that berm width should be one of the main considerations in the berm design.
AB - Lateral berms are often constructed to protect highway bridges against debris flows in mountainous regions. Currently, different solutions for lateral berm design are debated. The lack of standardization results in the improper design of lateral berms, limiting the mitigating effect. In this paper, a monitoring case of the mitigating effect of a lateral berm is introduced. The lateral berm was constructed through a bridge culvert at the alluvial fan of a debris-flow gully. In September 2008, a debris flow in this gully completely buried the lateral berm. The proposed numerical integral method was used to back analyse the flowing velocity and mud depth in berm. Results supported the speculation that abrupt decreases in mud depth and flow velocity in the lateral berm caused deposits that compressed the effective berm depth and resulted in overtopping flow. Therefore, we suggested reducing the berm width in order to increase the flow velocity in the berm. In June 2011, another debris flow with a smaller magnitude occurred in the gully, and the reconstructed lateral berm reportedly performed well to protect the bridge of Yalu highway. The case studies highlighted that berm width should be one of the main considerations in the berm design.
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U2 - 10.1080/19475705.2017.1414718
DO - 10.1080/19475705.2017.1414718
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85038834105
SN - 1947-5705
VL - 9
SP - 196
EP - 210
JO - Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk
JF - Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk
IS - 1
ER -